Separable hinges have been developed to provide for situations where it becomes desirable to have a door or other hinged element removable from the structure that supports it. The hinge leaves can thus remain permanently secured in position. A variety of structural configurations have been devised to provide this feature, typical examples of these being noted in the following patents:
______________________________________ 1,632,116 Buss 1927 2,223,676 Dinsmore, et al. 1940 2,732,581 Heck 1956 3,471,874 Dixon 1969 3,416,185 Peterson 1968 878,545 (German) Sohne 1953 ______________________________________
The common feature in most disengageable hinge assemblies centers in a pivot shaft that has a D-shaped cross-section, and is fixed with respect to one of the hinge leaves. The opposite leaf has bearing sections adapted to rotate on this shaft, and these bearing sections are open across a sufficient sector to admit the thickness of the shaft, measured in a direction perpendicular to the flat side. This gap width in the bearing sections is insufficient to permit the passage of the major diameter of the shaft. The hinge leaves are thus disengageable in a particular angular relationship. Normally, this configuration will provide similar disengageability in a position one hundred and eighty degrees opposite from that position. In many applications, it is undesirable to have the hinge components disengageable in more than one position. This invention is directed at providing single-position disengageability in a hinge capable of relative hinge articulation in excess of one hundred and eighty degrees.